Philadelphia 76ers: Sixers try to pick themselves up

PHILADELPHIA — The coach was talking about effort, his players were talking about silver linings and nobody wanted to discuss the wretched play that preceded it.

That was Tuesday night, following the 76ers’ 94-82 collapse against Orlando, which featured as much effort from the Sixers as minutes played by Andrew Bynum. The loss didn’t leave coach Doug Collins at a loss for words, though, with Collins delivering a 12-minute diatribe about his team’s inability to play with conviction.

In essence, it was rock bottom for the Sixers.

“It can’t get any worse than this,” Collins said.

Their upcoming test — tonight at Chicago — will be the gauge of that. The Sixers (22-33) tend to play up to the competition and the situation. So could a nationally televised game, even against the tepid Bulls, merit a win?

Not exactly. The Sixers, who didn’t practice Wednesday before flying to Chicago, are in a tailspin. They have lost a season-worst six in a row, falling into last in the Atlantic Division and dropping to 10th in the Eastern Conference.

Frustration is mounting, with Collins’ presser capping a night full of it. Even though Collins seemed to indicate that the Sixers cannot sense that the clock is ticking, that their already-thin postseason hopes are fading, Thaddeus Young also played the equally disappointed card.

“I’m frustrated each and every time we lose games,” said Young, one of the Sixers’ captains. “That’s me, the way I go out there and play each and every night, the way I feel about the game, the way I feel about every situation. That’s just in my personality. I’m always frustrated when we lose games.

“My whole life, there have been times when I’d lose games, and that was frustrating, also. We were 27 and 50-something (in 2009-10) and I don’t want to be a part of that anymore. I want to win games. I want to put every advantage I have into the game. This was just one of those games where we didn’t come out with any fight at all.”

That was evident a handful of times, like when Lavoy Allen had to hit the deck late in the fourth quarter for only his second rebound of the game. Or when Spencer Hawes failed to amass more than one rebound in 21 minutes. Or when Collins, with a 12-man active roster, couldn’t find five guys at any given time to stem the tide against the suddenly clicking Magic.

Rubbing salt in the wound was Orlando’s Nik Vucevic, who bullied his former club for 19 boards. And he almost had a 20th, until Magic teammate Tobias Harris snatched it out of Vucevic’s mitts with 30 seconds to play.

Maybe that’s what sent Collins to the locker room prematurely Tuesday, even if he said he wasn’t aware of a differential between the shot and game clocks late in the fourth quarter.

It’s almost as though it’s become easy for the players to accept defeat.

“It is,” Collins said.The game was that bad.

For a counter-argument, the Sixers’ Evan Turner: “Any situation seems the worst. Sometimes you have to keep your head up and be one of the few that tries to stay positive, you know? It’s obvious — and this is not pointing fingers or whatever anyone says — anybody can sit here and point out the obvious.